Julius Njau was born in 1961 in Marangu, Moshi in Tanzania. He
attended the Kilimanjaro Primary School and the Moshi Technical
Secondary School where he graduated. His career as an artist started
when he began to paint while he had to spend two years in hospital
after he broke his leg badly in 1972. There he was treated by a
Finnish X-ray specialist who was the first to encourage his art,
buying materials for him, and works from him. She organized his
first exhibition in Finland in 1983. His early works were
representaional, working with the themes of his people's traditions
and wildlife. 1984 saw a dramatic change in his technique and style
as he shifted into the abstract. His paintings are constructed from
the interplay of primary colors and the intermingling of obscured
shapes. Julius Njau's vast work has been collected by the Prefecture
of Osaka, and the Museum of Modern Art Toyama in Japan, the Museum
fur Volkerkunde, Frankfurt, and Galerie ZAK (Zeitgenossische
afrikanische Kunst), Furth in Germany, Amos Anderson Gallery,
Helsinki, Finland, and 5th British Museum, England. In 2002, Julius
Njau received the Nagoya Mayor's Prize and in 2003 he was awarded
the Grand Prize in the Toyama Prefecture's International Competition
for the "Sukiyaki Meets the World" Festival Poster Design. Julius
Njau is a founding member and President of Marafiki - Friendship and
Art.